Chapter 18
The rain fell so heavy it was as if it was trying to wash away any trace of what it had just witnessed. The Helluvans were cautious as they approached the Immortal bringing the body of Hazum Ka-te with them. Cada Varl continued to stare at them with eyes glowing with red power but he did nothing else. The moment became so intense that Imbaka kept her hand upon her sword as she said clearly, “Cada Varl?” She said it several times waiting for the Immortal to respond. Finally after moments that felt like days the strange red light faded from his eyes and he looked normal again. He glanced to Imbaka as if to show her that he was still the man she knew, before his eyes fell upon the corpse of Hazum Ka-te.
They buried him right then and there, using the soft earth the rain had created to make the task easier. It seemed fitting that as they performed the ritual that the heaven themselves were weeping at the loss of such a great man. Hazum Ka-te had made the ultimate sacrifice and for that the surviving Helluvans were beyond grateful. As he had felt with the passing of Leannol and Tanagy Cada Varl felt guilty, he should have been able to kill Solloc and Nara far sooner, so he would have been able to kill Yorow without Hazum Ka-te having to resort to such desperate tactics. The guilt as always was his own to carry, the Helluvans would never blame him for Hazum Ka-te’s death. Before the final clumps of dirt were placed upon him the group silently said their final words to the wielder of the Cloud Cutter. They left the bodies of their three enemies to rot, they had no reason to show them any respect.
When it came time to camp that evening the rain still had not broken, making the forging of any kind of fire impossible. The fields of Huzuraa offered no natural shelter either making the night even more miserable and unpleasant. With memories of the great Hazum Ka-te running through their minds the Helluvans fell asleep, lying closely against one another.
By the following morning the rain had stopped leaving the fields drenched in water. The group ate a quick breakfast before forcing themselves to continue onwards. There were many questions still to answer, beyond the obvious of who or what Aneeku and the others were. Solloc had mentioned that he was aware of Cada Varl’s presence in the west and yet the group could find no obvious way of how he knew such knowledge. the Immortal looked through his own memory, at how Solloc and Nara had fought almost like they knew what the other was going to do. Was it possible that they possessed some kind of telepathic ability? Both Nara and Aneeku had proven they possessed powers beyond anything the Helluvans had ever seen. Before Nara had transformed she had said something about it being too late for her, but that she still could be of some use. To whom? Was the question that kept demanding itself be answered in the mind of the Immortal. How many more of them were out there? Nara was far more powerful than Aneeku; did that mean that there could have been others that were even more powerful than her? The thought made Cada Varl’s knees go weak. There was also something else, something that could not be ignored that was clearly bothering Cada Varl, but it was something that only he knew.
Huzuraa offered nothing more than fields of the orange grass but the group remained weary, unsure of what they might have come across. After a fortnight or so of nothing but these orange fields the group finally left Hazuraa, into quite literally the unknown.
The group was not lost; there was simply no name for the wilderness they had entered. It was a low lying terrain that was the very epitome of the word wilderness, for the trees, shrubs and grass that grew here were all overgrown and messy. The whole place really did look like it had been both abandoned and forgotten by the world. The undergrowth was that thick that each of them had to continuously cut through it with various cutting tools. In many places it was like a wall of wilderness not allowing even the eyes of Cada Varl or Zova to see through it.
Eventually the wilderness became less wild but only slightly, allowing the group to move through it quicker. Strangest of all however was just how silent the wilderness was, without so much as an insect to be seen anywhere within it. For over a week the group saw nothing else but over grown branches, grass and trees. They were making reasonable progress, for though there was much hacking and slashing needed to continue, it was mindless work. Every time night fell the group managed to find a place just big enough to make camp. They had to keep watch over any fire they forged, to ensure that it did not set the whole place alight. Overall the terrain may have been far from welcoming but it did little to try and hinder them.
Then one morning it all changed, the landscape may have remained the same but Imbaka came across something that changed the course of the journey. The group kept silent as they gathered around her seeing before Imbaka what had made her so suddenly stop. It was the unmistakable mark of a werewolf footprint and it was not alone. Before them the grass had been flattened and twisted in such a way that it couldn’t be anything else but heavy footfalls. They were no longer alone in this wilderness. The problem however was the tracks led straight into the thick shrub and undergrowth, keeping it a mystery just how close potential enemies were. The group had always known of the chance that rebel factions may have fled into the unknown parts of the west, and lying before them now was proof of it.
Each of them scanned the tree line but could see no indication of exactly where the werewolves had gone. Adding to their frustration was the absence of wind in this wilderness; the tracks may have been a month old or a day. In any case the group stayed close to one another and allowed Imbaka to lead them onward.
That very night the group did not trouble with making a fire, the temperature of these overgrown lands remained constantly humid even though the sky seemed to remain a full bright blue. As the Helluvans slept Cada Varl kept his eyes upon their surroundings. Even with eyes such as his he could little else but the trees, shrubs and grass, for all he knew enemies could have surrounded them and he would not even know it. Because of this Cada Varl always kept a hand upon the handle of his sword.
Morning came with no sign that there was anything out there but more wilderness, the group however never let their guard down. This made the following days as long as they were tense, the group became frustrated by the fact that they could find no more footprints, even though they were sure werewolves were someone out there. Another 3 weeks went by and still there was no change in the terrain. Upon each night Imbaka would study the stars ensuring that they were still heading in the right direction for during the day there was simply no such indication.
After another week the landscape did change somewhat, with clearings becoming a little bit more common. There were even a handful of streams to be found randomly through the wilderness, which the Helluvans were grateful to drink from. But overall the wilderness remained without end.
Then another discovery was made, this one even more concrete then the footprints. Imbaka who had been leading the group now stood very still leading the others to believe that she could see an enemy that they could not. Following her hand gestures the others closed in and tried to walk the same steps she had taken before they could gather at her side. As soon as they approached her they could see it for themselves. Literally half a foot from where they stood was a huge pit that did not resemble any known shape. Inside the pit was the eviscerated body of a werewolf, impaled upon a number of long silver spikes that had been stuck into the underground. The fallen grass that could be found in the pit indicated that this had been some kind of trap, whose lethality was proven by the dead werewolf. It had been cleverly dug into the ground and covered with grass. Even when it had been set off the hole could not be seen from 3 foot away in any direction as the grass worked perfectly to hide it from the world. How exactly the trap had been set off was not known, the most obvious choice was the werewolf had stepped upon it. The way the silver still shone so brightly in the light of the sun showed that this was not a relic of some forgotten conflict, but this trap had only recently been made. There was virtually no chance that this trap was an isolated thing either. Imbaka and the others closely scanned their surroundi
ngs but the trees and grass remained frustratingly secretive. From where they were their eyes could not aid them and so Imbaka took the initiative.
With whispered words she told the group, “Watch every step I take and then take them after me.” The others watched with held breaths as she very slowly took a long step, carefully placing her foot onto the ground after she was satisfied it would not set off another trap. As they had been told to do the others followed her every step with each one in line ensuring those behind them had seen their footing before moving onwards. Moving in such a way slowed progress down considerably, but the risk of injury and death had now increased a 100 fold.
In times of war in both the worlds of men and monsters, booby traps were an indication of just how desperate one side had become. The only positive thing to come out of all of this was it reminded of the group of what they needed to accomplish, in order to save their kingdom and the east from conquest. In two hours they had made very little progress but at the least they were all still amongst the living.
They came to a clearing that was surrounded by thick under bush and stalking trees. The group was rightfully hesitant for this seemed the ideal place to set pitfalls and other such nasty traps. Even the grass seemed to grow that little bit longer in the clearing as if it wanted to be that ideal place. Keeping as silent as possible Imbaka gestured for the others to wait as she found a sturdy branch to hold onto. She then held her breath as if to ensure she weighed as little as possible before she carefully placed a foot into the clearing. Slowly she placed weight on her foot and held onto the branch even tighter. When she was sure that the ground would not fall away from under her she took another carefully placed step. With fluid movements she let go of the branch but kept her arms raised as she took another step into the clearing.
The ground remained strong when she took her third step, satisfying her just enough so that the others could follow. With as much care as Imbaka had taken the rest of the group stepped into the clearing, ensuring to follow the steps of whomever was in front of them. The clearing was not that large by any measurement, but each stepped carried with it unpredictability, too powerful to be ignored. Imbaka reached roughly three-quarters of the way across the clearing without incident; she was so close yet felt so far. With every step the group took they would stop and look around in all directions, their instincts demanding of each of them such awareness. As Gokkus, who was the third in line, looked around to the surrounding trees his eyes focused upon something. He hesitated for a split second before his mind knew what it was.
“ Look out!” he bellowed taking his weapon in hand. The others did not even have time to look at the man dressed in black as gray masses of monstrous flesh leapt from all sides into the clearing. The clearing was an ideal place, ideal for an ambush and the group had just walked straight into the middle of it. Using Gokkus’ warning Imbaka unleashed her sword cutting it into the throat of an attacking werewolf as it leapt. Zova had just enough time to remove her sword from its sheave before a werewolf was upon her. Acting quicker than most people could think she thrust the tip of her blade directly into the thing’s mouth causing it to wail in pain as it fell back hard. The ground then collapsed around it and it fell onto the silver spikes of a trip fall. As the group had expected the clearing was not free of traps, but they could do little about it now as they were stuck in the ambush.
As Gokkus used both blades of his weapon to block the claw blades of an oncoming enemy he took a step backward and heard a sound he did not know. His instincts possessed him and he quickly stepped sideways before the ground opened up and silver spikes sprang forth from it. Cada Varl managed to decapitate two such enemies without setting off a single trap, but as he took a step to meet another werewolf he could feel something snap underneath his foot. His vision was drawn to something large and moving quickly towards him. He only realized it was not a werewolf when he managed to step away in time.
Somehow a boulder had been strapped to the top of the trees and now had fallen in between Cada Varl and his closest enemy. The boulder failed to hit anything living, but it did cause the ground to break wide open and reveal another pit fall. Cada Varl looked over to the werewolf who stood with snarling teeth and blood hungry eyes. It wanted to kill the Immortal, the question was whether or not it would take such a large risk by jumping over the pit. Cada Varl wanted it to task such a risk, but the werewolf was smarter than that. Cada Varl was forced to look away from the first werewolf as another of its kind came for him from another direction.
It barely had time to flash its teeth before Cada Varl severed it in two bloody halves. He looked back in time to see the first werewolf take its chance, leaping over the pit towards him. Easily Cada Varl slashed his weapon through the air cutting through its flesh like it was boiling butter. When another of these beasts tried to come at him, only to be killed by a lethal trap, Cada Varl developed the strategy of standing where he was and allowing the beasts to come to him.